Chapter 10: Ashes Upon the Stage

Hidden Chamber – Beneath the Vermilion Throne

Pain clung to Tianming's bones like slow poison. The Avatar Protocol had given him the flame of Yamamoto, but it had also hollowed out his spiritual foundation.

Now, bound by seven suppression seals carved by Kisuke, he sat within a soul-nourishing furnace. Qi swirled around his core like unstable magma.

[System Notice]Soul strain at 74%Lifespan reduced: 1 yearThree days of restricted Qi flow recommended

Kisuke studied him silently.

"You burned down a future. Try not to burn yourself next."

Tianming managed a smirk.

"If the future deserved fire, it was never worth keeping."

Within a day, the letters began arriving.

Azure Hawk Sect requested tribute negotiations—disguised demands.

Frozen Jade Sect called for a "summit" to regulate destructive techniques.

Golden Bamboo Pavilion threatened to cut trade routes unless Tianming signed reparation contracts.

Each letter cloaked in politeness. Each one a leash.

"So now they're afraid," Tianming murmured. "But they still think I'm alone."

The next day, Tianming summoned Itachi to the western wing of the palace.

There, behind a collapsed meditation garden, Kisuke's mirror glyphs had uncovered an ancient gate, sealed with a vermilion bloodline crest. Only the rightful heir could open it.

Tianming cut his palm and pressed it against the sigil. The door groaned open—stone to stone.

Inside: silence and soot, but as torches flared, what lay within made even Itachi pause.

Golden weapon racks. Dust-covered scroll chests. A sealed brazier pulsing faintly with residual celestial heat and in the center—mounted upon a scorched pedestal—rested a Sunsteel Crown Fragment, its surface flickering with solar flame.

"Heirloom of the First Flame Emperor," Tianming whispered."Buried and forgotten when the kingdom surrendered to sect control."

[System Notice]Resource Registered: Royal-Grade Summoning Material (Sunsteel Fragment)Estimated KP Yield Boost: 40% for Fire-Aligned Summons or Fusions

"And this," Kisuke muttered, dusting off a ledger from a nearby chest, "is the original treasury index of the Vermilion Dynasty. There are at least three more caches marked on this map."

Tianming stared at it all.

"They thought I took power too easily. Now they'll see—I haven't even started."

That night, Tianming dreamed of fire again. He stood in a courtyard of ash. At its center was the same old man from before, now sitting beside a scorched battlefield.

"You carry me," the man said, voice like burning coal."But what you truly inherited… is the right to choose what burns."

When Tianming awoke, his bed had blackened around him. The flame still whispered under his skin.

Back beneath the throne, Tianming stood before the newly unsealed treasury.

The ancient flame relics shimmered with potential.

"This is how I summon.""Not by luck, or by cheat. But by reclaiming what was always mine."

He turned to Kisuke. "Begin building the mirror surveillance network. If a sect dog breathes near our borders, I want to know before his lungs fill."

And to Itachi:

"Bring me the names of traitors hiding behind titles. I don't want them tried. I want them forgotten."